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Tag archives: online video ads

Putting or not putting a 20-seconds spot before a web video is one of the big dilemmas advertisers are currently facing in the online world. The Wall Street Journal published a (free) article last week investigating the topic. The article quotes, among the others the opinion of a Google’s executive who believes users will prefer video sites advertising free. Of course this is very much in line with Google’s overall approach to the Web, and if you “translate” it, it means “don’t put a 20-seconds spot before the spot, but place a contextual text-advertising link below the video”.

Last week the IAB has released a set of guidelines for broadband video commercials online. Fortunately, on ClickZ, Ian Schafer provides us with an explanation of what this guideslines practically mean for advertisers, publishers and end-users.
eMarketer estimates the online video ad market in 2005 will generate $225 million. It also expects spending will rise to $640 million in 2007 and $1.5 billion in 2009.

When a magazine like Business Week picks up a story about a business or a trend, you can bet that trend is getting serious. It has happened a few weeks ago when the article on blogs (that will change your business) was published and it’s probably happening again with this feature about online video advertising. As the article points out, ““advertisers view online video as a laboratory for new ways to connect with customers“.

Accoring to a research report on online ad trends by Avenue A/Razorfish 2005 will be the year of online video advertising. Thanks to the broadband’s diffusion it will be possible to deliver richer content and to enhance ads’ capabilities. In general, analysts expect a consistent growth in Internet advertising spending. Quoted in the article on Reuters, Doug Knopper, senior vice president at DoubleClick said:

“There is a huge opportunity for video-based programing on the Web. We haven’t figured out as an industry what the model is just yet… but the experimentation will be on the video side.”
File under:online video ads, predictions 2005

ClickZ reports Pointroll has introduced a new rich media video ad format. The new offering will allow easily incorporate their TV assets into the rich media provider’s formats.
Jupiter Research has recently released a report entitled “The Growth of Online Video Advertising” which investigates the factors that are limiting the growth of this kind of solution.

Unicast, the online advertising solutions provider, has announced in press release the birth of a new online ad format that enables advertisers to deliver their message with full-screen, broadcast quality video. Unicast’s Video Commercial is built on the Microsoft� Windows Media� 9 Series platform and is delivered to consumers via Unicast’s patented pre-cached technology. AT&T, Honda, McDonald’s, Pepsi, Vonage, and Warner Brothers are currently participating in a six-week, pre-paid beta launch of the Video Commercial.
The idea of video advertising is interesting, but I don’t understand if people need to install Unicast’s software on their machines. If this is true, I won’t expect a lot of users to agree, at least at time being. There’s too much spam and spyware around. First you need to build trust and educate people about this kind of advertising. I mean, users can’t skip ads, the Internet can’t exist without advertising, so it’s just better to build a relationship with users, telling them about existing formats and asking them the one they prefer. See the example of WeatherBug I talked about a couple of days ago.
On the topic, you can also read the eCommerceTimes, where Jay Lyman interviews Michael Kelleher an analyst at Yankee Group. He says that the video ads are the next generation of online advertising, particularly with the growth of broadband Internet connections. However, the analyst added, the ads might not win the favor of users if they interfere with their online routines.

The new MSN looks new and improved to advertisers eyes as well. As announced in a press release, MSN now offers advertisers new advertising options, including TV-like ads, via a new, free, streaming-video service, an expandable ad space on the homepage and Universal Ad Package (UAP) standardized ads.
Joanne Bradford, vice president and chief media revenue officer of MSN said:

“MSN has taken online advertising to the next level by offering a rich array of innovative options for advertisers. The 50 percent revenue growth we’ve experienced in our advertising business over the past year demonstrates how important online advertising has become and specifically how MSN has solidified itself as a top media property across all media.”

The video ads offer looks particularly interesting, if this kind of ads will be able to create the same emotional impact of television.

The ‘Critical Decision’ campaign to launch online the new Honda Accord has been developed by MSN with an extensive use of video and engaging solutions to to capture the attention of the millions of consumers. As explained in the press release this is Honda’s first custom-designed promotion on MSN and represents the automaker’s most elaborate and expansive online advertising effort for the 2004 Accord. The custom solutions package could be seen online at http://criticaldecisions.msn.com/ but, apparentely today the server doesn’t work.

Entertainment industry is looking for an effective marketing tool? Here comes the video-email! Revolution Magazine reports about a new technology developed by Lawton eMarketing that solves some the biggest hurdles in video e-mail marketing.
Is this the solution of the future or just another option for spammers?

Tessa Wegert tries to answer this question today on ClickZ.
Tessa says there’s people out there working to develope technology that could fuel the creation of some pretty appealing new ad units. Good to know